


It's All About You And Me

by KassandraScarlett



Series: If Aught But Death Part Thee And Me [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BAMF Tony Stark, Canon Rewrite, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everybody Lives, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, F/M, Female Tony Stark, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Merchant of Death Tony Stark, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Relationship(s), References to Depression, Tags May Change, Team as Family, True Love, Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:28:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KassandraScarlett/pseuds/KassandraScarlett
Summary: 4 years after Loki and Thor both disappeared with no traces left behind, Toni has gone on to become Iron Queen. She's in a relationship with Pepper and she's happy. She's earned it, for fuck's sake.Of course, that's when the Tesseract opens up a portal and everything goes to shit for the next few years. Add the fact that she's got some sort of blessing from Lady Death herself and Toni's more than a little eager to tear anyone who attacks her home to pieces.And the Norns? Well... This is the most entertaining Multiverse they've ever created so far.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team
Series: If Aught But Death Part Thee And Me [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1284941
Comments: 32
Kudos: 162





	1. Just One Look

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, third instalment in the series, as requested. Quick note: since this is pretty much a rewrite of the MCU (again), and because I have finally moved on from Civil War (not really), the characterisations are gonna be pretty different from what we've seen in the movies, ie, the Team as Family dynamics we should have gotten. Think of it as a cross between The Old Guard (if you haven't watched it...) and 2012 Avengers Tower fanfiction.
> 
> In other words: Fuck Canon! Let's do this!

“How’s it looking, Pep?”

“ _ The levels are holding steady _ ,” came the reply through the comms. “ _ I think _ .”

“Of course, they are, I was directly involved,” Toni reminded, soaring high above the city, finding the perfect point to see her brand new tower from. “Light ‘er up!”

The Tower lit up, a step-by-step process from the ground level to the very top, where her name was written for the world to see.

“ _ How’s it look? _ ” Pepper whispered.

“Like Christmas, but with more… Me,” Toni joked, but didn’t bother hiding the awe in her own voice. Forget Iron Queen. This was her biggest achievement. Clean energy.

Pepper’s voice drew her back to the landing platform she’d constructed. As the spinning rims dismantled her suit, she couldn’t hold back her smile.

“You are a genius,” she crooned to her girlfriend. It had taken them three long years to get to that impulsive kiss on the rooftop and Toni had loved every second since. She hadn't thought that she could have loved anyone after getting her heart broken by a certain dark-haired alien prince, but… Well, here she was.

“Twelve percent for my baby?” Pepper laughed through her effort to sound offended.

“An argument could be made for fifteen,” Toni conceded. “Since I did all the heavy lifting and had to deal with a bunch of sweaty workmen in my private elevator-”

“All of whom you shamelessly ogled,” Pepper cut in.

“Hey, a girl can look,” Toni defended herself. “Besides,” she smirked. “I reaped the benefits later that night, didn’t I? I should make you jealous more often.”

Pepper rolled her eyes fondly as she poured them champagne.

JARVIS spoke up right then. “ _**Miss, Agent Barton is asking for entry**. _ ”

Toni sighed immediately. “Tell him to get lost.”

A beat passed. “ _**I’m afraid he’s using his override code**. _ ”

“How dare he?”

“ _**All due respect, Miss, you gave it to him**. _ ”

“Hey, whose side you on, J?” Toni demanded.

“Won’t he just use the vents if you try to keep him out?” Pepper reasoned.

Toni scowled, just as the elevator door opened. “Shellhead,” he hollered. “Gear up, we need ya.”

“Tell Fury to suck it,” Toni said, getting to her feet. “I am not his personal hitwoman. He’s got Natashalie for that.”

Clint looked exasperated. “You have got to let go of that. It’s not even like she fooled you, you had her made two minutes after meeting her.”

“It’s the principle of the thing,” Toni explained.

Pepper cut in before they could argue. “I think we were celebrating,” she said with a sharp smile. “Clint, you’re interrupting.”

Clint held out a file. “It’s not about Iron Queen. It’s about-”

“The Avengers?” Pepper piped up without thinking. She shrunk back at Clint’s look. “Which, uh, I know nothing about.”

“I didn’t even qualify,” Toni reminded, taking the file from Clint. “Remember? Volatile, self-obsessed, narcissistic…”

“Come on,” Clint groaned. “You know damn well Fury had that profile crafted specifically because he knew the dangers of Iron Queen being an official part of SHIELD.The WSC would have had a field day with it, not to mention the politicians. And anyway, like I said, this isn’t about Iron Queen. It’s a science project.”

“Consultation hours are on Thursdays only,” Toni murmured. But, intrigued despite herself, she scanned the file, sending the information into a holographic screen before her. Almost immediately, she felt her eyes widen at the picture of the Tesseract. She’d only ever seen diagrams of it before, in her father’s old journals when she’d been trying to find a replacement for Palladium. She’d never realized…

“SHIELD has had this the whole time?” She asked in a low voice.

“Um, yeah. I guess.” Clint’s voice held confusion. "Why, you know what that is?"

Toni was fond of the guy, really. But he was a spy and she had been born paranoid. She couldn’t exactly take his words at face value.

She flipped through the information idly. “Dr Selvig’s on this?”

“Yep. Apparently something came up and he said he wanted a second opinion. Fury would have preferred anyone else, I think, but Selvig insisted.”

Pepper sighed. “Well, so much for our celebration.” She strode over to Toni. “I guess I’ll be leaving early.”

Toni wrenched her eyes away to look at her. “I can put him off till tomorrow,” she offered.

Pepper chuckled. “Please, you’ve got that crazy genius sparkle already. And this looks pretty urgent anyway.” She cast an analytical glance at the screen. “Better do your homework.”

“And when I finish?” Toni asked.

A slow wicked smile spread over her lips, She leaned in, lips brushing over Toni’s ear. “I’ll consider recreating that night in Nova Scotia.”

The whisper sent a shiver down Toni’s spine. She nodded, struggling to keep her glee in check. “Square deal. Fly safe.”

Pepper’s smile softened as she pecked her on the lips. “JARVIS, ask Happy to get my car, please,” she called out as she walked away.

Toni turned back to the screen, finding Selvig’s notes. “Give me a couple minutes to get dressed,” she said to Clint. “I’ll study on the way.”

* * *

“Tell me, Nick, how much of your pride is it costing to have me here?” Toni asked loudly as she strolled past security.

None of the agents reacted, except Clint, who snickered like a child behind her.

Fury, for his part, looked just as stoically exasperated as ever. “It’s not the time for jokes, Stark,” he ordered, leading her through a hallway into a much larger room. “We have a problem.”

“Toni,” Doctor Selvig joined them, shaking her hand gently. “It’s good to have you here. I kept telling them they should bring you in earli-”

“Show her, Doctor,” Fury interrupted. 

Toni stared at the contraption set up: the Tesseract shining blue in the middle of a raised platform, suspended in mid-air.

“Professor,” she said slowly. “What are you doing here?”

“The Tesseract is an Asgardian relic,” her old teacher whispered. He gave her an apologetic look.

She ignored it. She was over it.

“According to the lore I could find,” he went on. “It is believed it could be used to... Well, to open doors. So, we’re trying to figure out how.”

Toni blinked. “You mean, it could potentially create an Einstein-Rosenberg bridge?”

“A what?” Clint asked.

“A wormhole,” she said. “Basically, a portal. I think you forgot that in the notes, Professor.”

“Won’t do to mention gods and aliens in a scientific study that might be published, Toni.”

Toni peered closely at the monitors. They were spiking. “That shouldn’t be happening,” she said. “She’s misbehaving. Why?”

“Misbehaving?” Fury questioned.

“In the sense that she’s behaving at all,” Selvig explained. “All my preliminary studies and the previous reports you showed me say that the Tesseract is a static force, dormant energy. But now it’s reacting to something.”

“But what if it’s not something here?”

Toni looked at Clint sharply. “What do you mean?” She demanded.

“Well, you said it could open doors,” he said with a nod at Selvig. “Doors can be opened from both sides.”

The Tesseract sparked, loud and clear. All of them turned to it again, Toni and Selvig moving towards the monitors. Its energy levels weren’t spiking anymore, but steadily rising. A quick look confirmed that the cube itself was radiating bright blue flares of power.

“Shut it down,” Fury called.

“There’s no point,” Toni yelled back. “It’s self-sustaining.”

Before anything more could be said, the Tesseract glowed. A beam of white-hot light shot out of it, down the length of its raised platform, at the end of which it seemed to coalesce, forming a circle that grew larger and larger. Toni caught a single glimpse of a dark shadow against countless stars set in inky blackness, then the portal- because that’s exactly what it was- exploded.

Toni felt the wind knocked out of her, her head thunking sharply against the concrete, making her see stars. The only thought that crossed her mind was that her armor was back in Clint’s car. The only weapon she had with herself was her gun.

As she struggled to sit up and get her bearings, her eyes focused on the platform. There was a figure kneeling there, head bowed and one hand extended to carry some sort of staff. As the person slowly stood, Toni felt herself freeze. 

Loki stared down at her, eyes hard and mouth set in a cold smirk. She waited, bated breath, for him to say something to her, to step closer to her. But his eyes moved over her with zero recognition.

Toni’s heart didn’t slow down.


	2. Gather Round

“You wanna confirm the fact that that was Loki, same guy who sent that machine four years ago and nearly levelled a whole damn city?”

Toni waved off the agent pressing an ice-pack to the cut on her head. “You want _me_ to confirm this, why?”

Fury glared at her. “Because I got it on good authority that you had known the older brother, Thor.”

Toni sighed. There was heavy weight around her, making her feel like she couldn’t breathe. “Loki had come to Earth a year before New Mexico. We met on my vacation and hit it off. We were good friends. He trusted me enough to tell me the truth about who he was.”

“Just friends?” Fury interrupted.

Toni levelled him with a flat stare. “He’s an alien prince,” she said coolly. “He had no interest in me other than platonic and I felt the same. What more do you want, a receipt? Or camera footage?” Even as she said the words, they hurt. It was funny. She’d thought it would be speaking his name out loud that would feel hard, but disregarding their time together, downgrading it to a casual acquaintance, was worse. “The guy didn’t even look at me twice, he probably doesn’t even remember me.”

Fury let it go. “So why is he here now?”

“I don’t know.” Toni shook her head, exchanging a glance with Coulson. “Best guess: he’s pissed off at Thor and taking it out on us.”

Fury pinched the bridge of his nose. “Coulson, Hill, bring in Agent Romanoff, brief her immediately. Stark, find Banner. I’ll get Rogers.”

“Bruce isn’t gonna want to be a part of this,” Toni tried to protest. 

This time, Fury was the one to glare. “Loki has several of my agents, including Barton, a good friend of yours, in fact. He’s got Selvig, one of the senior experts in astrophysics. And he’s got a limitless source of energy. We’re effectively at war, Stark. Banner doesn’t have a choice. You asked me to leave him alone all these years, I did. But if you don’t bring him in, then I will, no matter how long it takes me to find him.” He walked away with a purposeful stride.

Toni buried her head in her hands. Fuck.

* * *

**Flashback - 2007**

_ Despite the revelation from mere minutes ago that Loki was, in fact, in love with her, Toni couldn’t bring herself to think about anything other than Bruce’s worried voice over the phone, scared and begging her not to check the news before coming to get him. _

_ Next to her in the car, Stephen was jittery too. “Do you think he’s okay?” He asked for the sixth time. _

_ “I don’t know.” _

_ They finally found Bruce in a small shack in an alley, huddled with a scratchy blanket. He was jittery, nervous, almost in tears throughout the whole flight back, and the second they had arrived in Toni’s lab in Malibu, he insisted on having JARVIS run his blood through every single test. _

_ Toni and Stephen stared at the results, at the sickly green of the cells- gamma radiation. And yet, instead of breaking down, the cells were mutated, larger.  _

_ “I change every time I get angry,” Bruce whispered, after they finally turned on the news and saw the destruction of Harlem. “I don’t know yet… I can’t tell if it’s connected to hormones or heart rate.” He wasn’t meeting their eyes, hunched in like he was scared of their reaction.  _

_ Toni and Stephen’s eyes met. There was a mutual agreement there, a resolve that didn’t need words. _

_ Toni stepped into the V of Bruce’s legs, hugging him tightly. “You’re okay, Bruce,” she whispered. “It’s gonna be okay.” _

_ Stephen’s deep voice rang with conviction. “We’ll figure this out.” _

* * *

“ _ Mere papa bimaar hair, wo uth nahi rahe! _ ”

Bruce knelt closer to her. “ _ Inki tarah? _ ” His Hindi was still rusty, his accent unmistakably American, but pointing towards the ailing man on the cot got the message across.

The little girl looked up at him with wide eyes and a tear-streaked face, holding out a small wad of money. “Please,” she pleaded.

Bruce kept a tight grip on her shoulder as she zipped through the busy streets. After all these years, Calcutta traffic still terrified him. The girl led him to a rundown shack, on the outskirts of the city. Something like suspicion niggled at his mind, but before he could examine it further, the door had closed behind them and the little girl shrugged his hand away before dashing out a window.

“Should have gotten paid up front, Banner,” he muttered to himself, somewhere between bemused and exasperated, because there were only two people who knew where he was and would go to such a dramatic length to meet him.

“You know, I think I get why you chose to work like this.”

Bruce stepped further into the room and turned around with a smile. “Yeah?”

Toni grinned. She looked good, healthy, if a little tired. “It feels nice, being able to help people,” she agreed. She came closer, wrapping Bruce into a hug.

Bruce breathed her in. They hadn’t been in the same room since Toni had been dying of palladium poisoning two years ago. 

Toni let go first, now with a slightly guilty look. “Much as I’d love for us to just relax, we’re on a schedule.”

Bruce tilted his head. “Who’s schedule?”

She sighed. “SHIELD. Fury’s the one who asked me to bring you in.”

“Are we being watched now?”

No,” Toni replied, but she pushed her hair back, revealing the black earpiece fitted.

“Okay.” Bruce nodded. So they weren’t being watched, just eavesdropped on. “So…”

Toni reached under the rickety old table, brought out a sleek folder, handing it to him. Bruce flipped through it, skimming through the notes and diagrams, lingering on the picture of a glowing blue cube. “A self-sustaining energy source?” He looked up at her over his glasses. “And they had Professor Selvig on it, not…?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Right. So what does Fury want me to do?”

“He wants your help finding it. It’s been taken.”

“By?”

Toni sighed, leaning back into a wooden chair. “You remember that gas explosion in New Mexico?” She asked. “It was actually a machine. An automaton. Sent by an alien. A god, in fact. No capital-G.”

Bruce blinked. “I’m not sure I follow you.”

Toni nodded at the folder again. “It’s all in there.”

Bruce turned more pages, reading everything SHIELD had on the origin of the Tesseract, the Norse gods, and Viking mythology, mostly focusing on Loki and Asgard. On the last page there were two photos. One of a large man with long blond hair and the bluest eyes Bruce had ever seen, dressed in some sort of chain-mail. And the other was… Familiar.

It took Bruce a few seconds to place the features, because they’d only met once and he’d never even seen a photo. But he remembered Toni talking about him, gushing about him with a giddy smile and later crying endlessly over him.

When recognition hit, Bruce felt a rush of anger and shock. “Toni… That’s-”

“Yeah,” Toni cut in, with a sharp look to remind him that this wasn’t a private conversation. “Loki Odinson. God of Mischief. Prince of Lies.” The words were coated with a thin veneer of bitterness, forcedly polite.

Bruce closed the folder, gently setting it on the table. “We can leave in two hours, I need to pack.”

Toni nodded, looking relieved.

“Just one thing.” Bruce held up a hand. “Have you told Pepper?”

“Yeah, of course,” Toni said, sounding offended. “I called her right after.”

“And Stephen?”

Toni just looked sheepish.

* * *

Stephen frowned when his phone lit up with Toni’s name on the screen. “You’ve hacked the hospital network and know every slot in my timetable. I’m assuming there’s no good news you’ve got to deliver if you’re calling five minutes before I step into a surgery?”

Toni’s soft laughter was harried. “ _ Yeah, sorry. Just a heads up.” _

__ Stephen raised an eyebrow, even though she couldn’t see it. “What’s wrong?” The note of worry in her voice was obvious.

“ _ So, you remember Loki? My, uh… Tall, dark and handsome European fling?” _

__ Stephen snorted. “I’m tall, dark and handsome, Toni- that’s literally your type. And it’s not a fling if it leaves you heartbroken and crying yourself to sleep for over a year. Don’t tell me the bastard’s back?”

“ _ Uh, right, well, funny story…” _


	3. Blades

The Tower was eerily silent without Pepper. And it hadn’t been opened to the staff yet. Toni headed to the master bedroom of the penthouse anyway, where she and Pep had moved most of their stuff in the weeks before going off the grid.

There was a little compartment in the walk-in closet that could only be opened by fingerprints. Toni placed her palm on it, shaking slightly. The compartment slid open, revealing only two items: a copy of a sonogram from so many years ago and a scabbard of black leather, embossed with shimmering patterns. The hilt was black gold, the emerald at the center of the double cross-guard shining ominously.

_ (“Will you keep this? Just in case. Perhaps as a reminder, should I take too long to return.” _

_ “Won’t need a reminder. But I’ll keep it as a tiny incentive for you to return.”) _

Toni picked it up hesitantly, reverently, and unsheathed it. The blade was long, almost ten inches, made of a metal that JARVIS hadn’t been able to identify. There were runes etched into the flat side of it. 

_ (“This was his favorite dagger… The runes are new, though.” _

_ “What do they say?” _

_ “A protection spell.”) _

Did Loki really not recognize her? Sure, it had been four years since they’d last seen each other, but the dark look in his eyes, the utter disregard as he hadn’t even met her gaze… It was as if he had no memory of her. But that couldn’t be.

Loki had brainwashed Selvig, the very person who’d been working on the Tesseract. That couldn’t be an accident. Loki must have known exactly who Selvig was, must need him for whatever he had planned for the cube. But if that was the case, then he should have taken her too, because she had been the only other person in that room who’d understood Selvig’s work. The Loki she knew was too clever, too intelligent to not have done his research, to leave behind a person who could undo whatever Selvig might help him with.

So, why had he left her?

Toni sighed. Maybe she was thinking too much. Maybe… 

It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter why Loki had ignored her, why he’d left her high and dry four years ago, or why neither he nor Thor had bothered to ever contact her. She didn’t care, she reminded herself. She was over it.

Still, she couldn’t help hooking the dagger to her belt. She imagined she could feel its magic settling over her, like a second skin. It felt oddly comforting.

* * *

The notification popped up as she flew over the ocean. Loki had been spotted in Germany. Steve Rogers was on his way there right now, along with Natasha Romanoff.

A small part of Toni balked at the idea of meeting Rogers. She’d heard too much about him from Howard, had been expected to live up to his standards. And now, to meet the actual myth and legend… 

Of course, the bigger part of her was twisted up and in itself over the prospect of seeing Loki again. Toni tried in vain to ignore her own eagerness, but by the time she reached Stuttgart and caught sight of Natasha’s aircraft, she knew she would simply have to fake it.

Shoot To Thrill blasted from the hovercraft’s speakers. “Miss me, Agent Romanoff?” She quipped. 

Rogers and Loki, grappling on the ground, broke apart just long enough for Toni to aim a repulsor. For a split second, she considered cranking it up to full power. Then she kept it moderate and blasted him in the chest.

Loki fell back into the steps leading up to the opera.

Toni landed neatly next to Rogers. “Make your move, Reindeer Games.” Her voice was flat, taunting.

Loki stared up at her, like he was trying to reconcile her voice with the androgynous curves of the armour. Then he raised his hands slowly, palm facing outwards in a gesture of surrender. But there was no mistaking the sly tilt to his lips.

“Miss Stark,” Rogers greeted, out of breath.

Toni tipped her head in reply, though she kept her eyes on the god. “Captain.” She could be cordial.

“You want to take him or should I?”

Toni didn’t want to get closer to Loki than she needed to. “You. I’ll watch your six.”

Rogers nodded, striding forward. He hauled Loki up by his forearm and Toni had to bite her lip to keep herself from snapping at him to be gentle. She was grateful for her helmet as they passed her by.

But on the hovercraft, she had no choice. The mask retreated, leaving her face exposed. Finally, there was a flicker of… Something… In Loki’s eyes, his gaze fixed on her, mouth twitching as if he’d been about to part his lips. Toni waited with bated breath. But he looked away and the moment was gone.

“Nat, did Bruce reach okay?” She asked.

The redhead didn’t bother turning around. “Yep. Introduced him to the Captain and set him up in a lab.”

“Oh, you, uh, know Dr Banner?” Rogers asked.

Toni raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, we met at MIT, been best friends since. Didn’t Fury give you a briefing packet of the Avengers?”

Rogers looked stiff. “I skimmed it. Your name wasn’t there.”

Toni just hummed. She often forgot her official status was ‘Consultant’.

Rogers looked over her shoulder to their prisoner. “I don’t like this.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “I don’t remember it being this easy.”

“Yeah, Rock of Ages doesn’t seem the type to give up like that,” Toni agreed. Then she fixed Rogers with an appraising look. “Still, you were pretty spry, for an older fellow. What’s your thing, pilates?” At his blank look, she shrugged. “You might have missed a few things, doing time as a… Capsicle.”

His gaze shifted into a sharp glare, assessing and judging. “Fury didn’t tell me he was bringing you in.”

“There’s a lot of things Fury doesn’t tell most people.”

“You don’t seem surprised to see me.”

Toni smiled now, coldly. “I’m not most people.” Lightning cracked outside the window, the storm heralding itself. 

Loki shifted forward, bracing for another jolt.

Toni focused on him. “What, scared of a little lightning?” She mocked, hoping yet fearing a response.

To her eternal surprise, Loki actually gave her an almost apologetic smile. “I’m not overly fond of what follows.”

And, oh god, oh fuck, she’d missed that silk-smooth voice more than she’d-

The plane rocked.

Toni and Rogers stumbled, scrambling for support, as the ramp was suddenly forcibly opened. A figure, cast in shadow, knelt in the entrance. It was a man, huge and imposing, and in five seconds, he’d strode inside, grabbed Loki, and manhandled him out the jet in a single leap.

Toni could think of nothing but the red cape and blond hair.  _ It can’t be…  _

Enraged, betrayed and hurt- Toni snapped her helmet back on. “I’m going after them,” she called out. “If he kills Loki or takes him away, we’ll never find the cube.”

“Stark, we need a plan of attack!” Rogers yelled.

“I have a plan: attack,” she muttered and launched off.

Her target was moving fast, but the red cape was a glowing beacon and it was enough for Jarvis to lock on to him. Toni out on a burst of speed.

* * *

Thor almost couldn’t believe his eyes. Loki was laughing, the sound sharp and caustic, almost familiar.

“Come home,” Thor begged, cupping the back of Loki’s neck. “Come home, please.”

It was too dark to make out the look in Loki’s eyes, but the anger emanating from him was unmistakable. “I don’t have one,” he answered softly, all humor gone.

Thor grit his teeth. “And what of your lover?” He demanded. “Lady Stark? Will you kill her too? Or do you hope that she will still want you after the destruction you wreak on her kingdom?”

Loki merely glared. “I hardly think she matters in the long run,” he said coolly. “She was mortal- only ever a passing fancy, nothing more.”

Thor stepped away. Enough was enough. “Now you listen, brother, and listen well. If-”

A heavy weight crashed into him from the side, sending him toppling over the small cliff. He wrapped his arms around his attacker’s shoulders and pushed him off as they rolled. The body was metal. 

“Don’t ever touch me again!” Thor growled.

“Then don’t take my ex-boyfriend,” the armour replied- the voice was decidedly female, if artificial, and somewhat familiar. But then the mask was gone, revealing a face that had been the source of so much guilt was for the last four years.

“Lady Stark,” he breathed out. “Antonia.”

Antonia sneered. “Oh, I am so honoured that you remember my name,” she spit.

Thor did a double take at how similar she was to his brother. “I… Of course, I do.”

“Oh yeah? Then you wanna explain what’s going on here?” She demanded. “You disappear into the blue, he breaks my heart, neither of you get in contact for four years until now, when you’re trying to take over my planet?”

“We’re not,” Thor protested. Then he amended, “I’m not. And Loki is…” He sighed. “Antonia, I deeply regret your pain. All I can do is swear that if I could have, I would have found a way to come back here and speak to you.”

Antonia looked away. “You left Jane miserable,” she said tightly. “We stayed in touch after… After.”

Thor flinched. “I truly am sorry.”

“She’s moved on.” There was a short pause. “Why? Why couldn’t you have come back? Or just sent a message somehow?”

Thor bowed his head. “I will come with you and bring Loki. We must keep him contained until we know what he’s planning. And then, I’ll explain,” he swore. “I shall tell you everything.”

Antonia sughed. “Alright. Grab him. We should move before Captain Stick-Up-His-Ass gets here.”


	4. Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Toni let Thor keep an eye on Loki- she didn’t think she could take any more of that flat apathy. Instead, she sent a thoroughly confused Rogers back to the quinjet with a message to Romanoff about who their new visitor was and then flew ahead to lead Thor to their destination.

And the whole while, Thor talked. He talked about the Jotuns attacking Asgard, Loki killing their king, nearly destroying Jotunheim, the destroying if the Bifrost, and finally, Loki falling off the broken bridge to, as everyone had believed, his death. 

"I wanted to come back, to see Jane, to speak with you," Thor said, earnest. "But with the Bifrost gone… Even now, my father had to use Dark Magic to send me here."

Now how was Toni supposed to reply to that? "Jane is in a remote corner of the world, with a research team," she said thickly. "She'll be safe."

Fury took Thor off her hands, showing him to the containment cell for Loki. 

Coulson met Toni. "What do you think?" He asked. 

Toni let her surprise show. "You want my opinion?"

He shrugged. "You're the consultant."

"Why, Agent, are you making a joke with me?" Toni smirked. Then she sombered. "Thor is genuine. Whatever is going on with Loki, he's not a part of it. At least, no more than being a target. He thinks this is Loki's form of revenge."

Coulson nodded. "But you don't agree."

"No, Loki's not unnecessarily cruel. Or vicious." Toni sighed, staring at the live feed of Fury talking to Loki. "It doesn't make sense that he would go after a whole planet just to get back at his brother."

"Or maybe… You just never knew him as well as you think you did."

Toni glanced at him furtively. That was exactly what she was afraid of. "So, about that cellist?"

"Don't even-"

"No, hey, look, just pick a weekend," Toni laughed. "I'll fly you to Portland. Keep the love alive."

"Your team is waiting for you, Dr Stark."

Toni just smiled and walked into the control room. "Raise the mizzenmast, jib the topsails!" She hollered. Ignoring everyone's confused glances, she stood in the middle of a few panels. "How does Fury look at these?" She wondered. 

Hill's voice was flat. “He turns.”

“Sounds exhausting.” Toni clicked around on a few buttons, swiped across a few screens, planted a bug, then clapped her hands loudly. ”Iridium is a stabilizing agent. It can be used to keep the portal open for as long as Loki wants, as wide as he wants. And the rest of the raw materials- Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Bruce stifling a laugh, fingers curling over his mouth.

“The only major component he still needs,” she continued, enjoying the lost looks from everyone in the room. “Is a high energy density power source, something to kickstart the cube.”

“Since when are you an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” Hill asked, impressed amusement clear. 

“Last night,” Toni replied cheerfully. “Selvig’s notes, the extraction theory papers- don’t tell me I’m the only one who did the reading?”

“Does Loki need any particular king of power source?” Rogers cut in.

“He’d need to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier,” Bruce said.

“Unless,” Toni reminded.”Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect.”

“Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet.”

Toni grinned widely. “Finally, someone who speaks English,” she crowed, walking over to him. “All good?” She mouthed.

He gave her a nod and a half-smile.

“Is that what just happened?” Rogers mumbled.

“Dr Stark, if you and Dr Banner could please get started on locating the cube,” Fury ordered.

“I wanna talk to Loki first,” Toni stated.

Every one of them stared at her incredulously. 

“No,” Fury replied flatly.

“Nick, just hear me out-”

“You think I haven’t noticed your reactions all this time, Stark?” Fury snapped. “You obviously had a deeper and much more intimate relationship with Loki than previously explained by yourself.”

“He was courting her,” Thor spoke up with a frown. “I thought this would be common knowledge among your soldiers.”

Toni grit her teeth, studiously avoiding Thor’s inquisitive glance. She could feel them all staring at her, judging. Well, screw them.

“You’re right, yeah,” she admitted in a growl. “We were… In a relationship. But it’s been four years and I’m over it, but I might actually be able to get a reaction from him. A genuine one.”

Fury opened his mouth, clearly to argue.

Natasha spoke up first. “Sir, I think she should give it a shot.” Her eyes appraised Toni clinically. “We don’t really know anything about Loki. If Toni can get something from him… Even if it doesn’t work, it’ll help me understand some of what makes him tick.”

Fury’s eye bored into her. “Fine,” he acquiesced. “But you better be careful, Stark. Get any further compromised and I’ll have to remove you from this mission.”

“Yeah, yeah, got it.”

* * *

Bruce had been bullied, judged, kidnapped, shoved into unwanted spotlight- all because of his friendship with Toni. And, every time, Toni had been the one to rescue him. To say she could take care of herself was an understatement.

But twice over the years, Bruce had been so worried sick about her that he’d wanted to be the protector; once when she’d gotten shot at her first press conference, and later when she’d gone missing in Afghanistan.

Now, as he watched on a screen as she strode towards Loki’s cell, it was shaping up to be the third time.

Inside the glass cell, Loki tilted his head at her with a smirk. “Lady Antonia Stark,” he crooned. “I’ve been waiting for you to approach me.”

Toni’s answering smile was thin. “Really? I was beginning to think you’d forgotten all about me.”

“Oh, I had,” Loki answered. “Right up until I was forced to assess what kind of opposition I might have to face.”

Toni let out a little laugh. “Oh, well, that’s actually a relief. Here I thought _I_ was about to hurt _your_ feelings.”

Finally, confusion crossed Loki’s mask. “What are you saying?”

Toni shrugged. “You’re hard to forget, Lokes.” Her tone was genuine, fond, then her smirk returned. “But not impossible.”

For a second, Loki looked… Well, something other than superior. Then he shrugged, leaned back against the glass. “Well, I see you’ve made quite the name for yourself since our parting,” he mused. “ _ Iron Queen _ . It has a lovely ring to it, but I must say…” His smile was sharp and cruel. “I much preferred  _ Merchant of Death. _ ”

Toni stiffened.

Bruce swallowed back his rage on her behalf. Loki was, he realized, one of the very few people in existence who knew exactly where to hit Toni to hurt her.

Toni was silent for a minute. Then, she sighed. “And I preferred the guy who never wanted a throne or a crown or… A planet.” She looked Loki straight in the eye. “But I guess we’re both too accustomed to being disappointments.”

Loki looked frozen, eyes narrowed to slits.

Toni walked out.

“Was that good or bad?” Rogers asked in a low voice.

“Neither,” Romanoff replied. "But I think I know how to get him to spill. Just need to get him emotional.”

She was right, Bruce thought. “I’m gonna go to the lab,” he said loudly. “Find the cube.”

Nobody except Romanoff gave him a second glance. Her shrewd gaze followed him out and he forced himself not to break into a jog. 

He found Toni already in the lab. She was glaring at some screens, jabbing in commands like the keys had personally offended her.

Bruce opened his mouth to ask her if she was alright, then changed his mind. “Cluster recognition?” He asked instead.

“Yep.” She glanced at him. “Do me a favour- don’t tell Stephen the details of what just happened.”

“Hmm, no can do,” Bruce said. “He called me earlier, told me to keep him updated.”

Toni sighed. Closing the holograms, she leaned over the desk, burying her head in her hands. “Maybe I am too close to this,” she thought out loud. “He knows me too well; knows exactly which buttons to push.”

Bruce nodded, chewing on the inside of his cheeks. “It’s not one-way, though,” he pointed out. “Didn’t you see his face just before you left? He was definitely affected by that shot about disappointment.”

Toni tilted her head from side to side. “Maybe. But… Something still doesn’t seem right.” She scratched her head in frustration. “His brother says he’s got an army, but, until they get here, he’s on his own. And sure, he’s a god, but we’ve got some pretty good people on our side. Even just you and Thor. He can’t be this stupid. He never was before.”

Bruce shook his head. “Maybe you’re just not seeing what he’s planning yet.”

“Maybe.” Toni ran a hand through her hair, nervousness showing. She procured a packet of blueberries from somewhere and gave him a thoughtful look. “I got JARVIS worming his way through the firewalls. Shouldn’t be a problem, since I designed them.”

“You think Fury’s hiding something? Why?”

Toni popped another berry into her mouth. “Clean energy,” she stated. “That’s what they said they were working on the Tesseract for.”

Bruce remembered that from the briefing, but only then did he make the connection that Toni had. “So, why would they bring in Professor Selvig, and not you?” He realized. “Why weren’t you involved from the very beginning?”

Toni shrugged, spreading her arms wide. “I am the only name in that field right now. Would have made more sense to give me a call, right?”

Another thing occurred to him. “Toni, when Loki was talking to Fury, he said something about ‘ _ a warm light for all mankind’. _ ”

Realization stole over Toni’s face. “The Tower.”

“It’ll run itself for a year, right?”

“It’s just the prototype, but yeah.” Toni nodded slowly.

“So, what if that was for you?” Bruce questioned.

Toni took a deep breath. “Maybe. Yeah, maybe. But why?”

Bruce shook his head, staring blankly at the blue glow of Loki’s scepter. “I don’t know.”

Toni sighed. “Well, anyway, Natasha’s about to go talk to him. Wanna listen in?”

“No, we need to get this tracking algorithm down. Just tell Jarvis to record the thing.”

“Sure.”

Electricity arced through the skin of his flank. Bruce jumped, glaring at Toni, who grinned back tauntingly and offered him a blueberry as appeasement.


	5. The Green That Haunts My Dreams

It happened almost the exact second that Bruce and Toni caught the files on Phase 2. As they read JARVIS' decoded information with increasing disbelief, the door to the lab slid open and Fury and Natasha walked in, followed closely by Thor. 

"Stark, what do you think you're doing?" Fury demanded. 

Toni tilted her head. "Kinda wondering the same about you."

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"Yeah, we'll have a lock in a few minutes," Bruce assured, pointing to a screen. "Now. Phase 2?"

"Using the Tesseract to create weapons." Rogers had walked in too, dumping some kind of weapon on one of the desks. "I was wrong: the world hasn't changed, Director."

Fury took a deep breath. "Phase 2 is just a stand-by option."

"A nuclear deterrent?" Toni scoffed. "You think that's the way to calm things down?"

He glared. "Remind me again how you got your fortune, Stark?"

Rogers' eyes were cold when they glanced at her. "I'm sure Stark would be neck deep in this if-"

"Uh, I'm sorry, how is this about me?" Toni asked, genuinely confused. 

"Isn't everything?" He shot back. 

"Okay, that's verbal abuse," Toni muttered. 

"Keep wisecracking, Stark, and I swear-"

"What about the fact that you've been tracking all of us for years?" Bruce snapped. 

"Are you really that naive?" Natasha asked incredulously. "SHIELD monitors potential threats-"

"Captain America is on threat watch?"

"We all are!"

"Do you seriously think we're a team here?" Bruce demanded. "No, this is a time bomb."

"Doctor, you need to calm down."

"He can blow off some steam, Nick," Toni spoke up. "It's perfectly fine."

"It's really not, Stark, so please shut up!" Rogers snapped. 

Toni turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."

Rogers smirked and it was such a cold look on him that it made her frown. "Yeah," he scoffed, stepping into her space. "You're just a spoilt girl playing dress up with a suit of armor. Take that off- what are you?"

She smiled. "Not someone you want to make an enemy out of," she warned in a gentle voice. 

Thor's incredulous huff broke them apart. "You people are so petty."

Fury sighed. "Agent Romanoff, please escort Dr Banner to-"

"Where?" Bruce cut in smoothly. "You rented my room."

"The cage was only ever built in case-"

"In case you needed to kill me," Bruce finished for him. "Well, you can't, I've tried."

The words hit Toni like a punch. She froze. Behind her, she felt Rogers stiffen. 

Bruce turned halfway towards her, then studiously didn't meet her gaze. "I got low, didn't see an end," he murmured. His voice was low, angry and dangerous. "So, I put a bullet in my mouth- the other guy spit it out."

Despite herself, Toni caught the sparking of the scepter behind Bruce, the way Fury tensed and his hand moved to his gun, the way Natasha was doing the same. Toni shifted on her feet, ready to move. 

"So I stayed away, I helped people, I was good. And I came here, putting everyone at risk, because Toni asked, but now, you're doing all this and still have the audacity to try caging me?" He looked coldly at the spies. "You really wanna be testing my limits like that?"

Everything happened at one. Bruce had leaned back against the table, one hand wrapping around the scepter. Rogers took a step forward, breathing sharply. Fury and Natasha drew their guns. But by the time, they'd clicked their safeties off, Toni had moved in front of Bruce, her own gun raised towards the director. 

"We need to sedate him, Stark," Fury started. 

"Anyone make a move on Bruce," Toni announced. "And JARVIS will take control of the armour."

They all stayed still, not a single muscle moving. Toni could almost feel Bruce's sudden disorientation. 

"Bruce," she said. "Could you put down the scepter?" Even as she spoke, the tracker beeped.

And then everything went to hell.

* * *

Everything suddenly felt too quiet, with both Thor and Bruce gone and Phil dead. 

Toni had never before regretted not taking the time to build some semblance of friendship with the agent. As she stared at the Captain America trading cards, bloodied and scattered on the table, she realized she'd maybe grossly miscalculated how well she knew Loki. 

The thought propelled her to her feet and she stalked off without a second glance. Nobody tried to stop her. 

Toni escaped to one of the long hallways that looked down at the spinning turbines, one of which she’d just been knocked around in. Guilt churned inside of her, thick and cloying.

“Did he have any family?”

She didn’t startle, but it was a close thing. “No,” she answered, careless by instinct. Then, she amended, “There was a cellist in Portland. I think.”

“He died believing he did the right thing. That’s honorable,” Rogers said.

Toni shook her head. “That’s stupid,” she corrected. 

“Is this the first time you’ve lost a soldier?”

“We are not soldiers!” Toni hissed, whirling around to face him with fire in her eyes. “I’m not marching to Fury’s fife.” Even as she said it, something about her own choice of words nagged at her.

“Neither am I,” Rogers assured. “He’s got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now, we need to put that behind us and stop the alien from taking over our planet.”

_ Fife _ , Toni thought.  _ Pied fucking Piper.  _ “He made it personal,” she murmured.

Rogers’ brow furrowed. “That’s not the point.”

“No, it is,” Toni insisted. “It’s Loki’s point. He hit us right where we live, when he could have overtaken us by stealth.”  _ He’s been playing us. _ “He wants to beat us. But more than that, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience.”

Rogers nodded slowly, catching up to what she was saying. “Right. I caught his act in Stuttgart.”

“Exactly,” Toni agreed. “But that was just previews, this is opening night. And Loki; he’s a full-tilt diva.” She couldn’t help a fond huff of laughter as she remembered how much of a smug show-off he’d been when she knew him. “He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered on it-” She stuttered to a stop. She hadn’t fallen for Loki because of all the ways he was different from her, but because of how similar they were. “Son of a bitch,” she cursed.

Rogers leveled a flat look at her. “Well, I can see why you two liked each other,” he deadpanned.

Toni rolled her eyes. “Come on,” she urged, breaking into a jog. “We’ve got to get to New York.”

“The two of us alone can’t do much, Stark,” he pointed up, keeping in time with her as they ran through the aircraft.

Toni didn’t answer, just skidded to a stop at Romanoff’s quarters, throwing the door open. “Clint,” she greeted, focusing on her friend. “You good?”

Clint just grunted, but Romanoff gave an affirming nod.

“Great. Gear up- we got a god to stop.”

* * *

As they flew, Toni’s excitement over figuring out Loki’s next step faded. There was still the question of why Loki thought all this would be a good idea.

**_“Miss?”_ **

“Yeah, J?”

There was a hint of hesitation in her AI’s voice.  **_“Might I request you reconsider your plan of talking Loki down as a distraction? It’s far too dangerous.”_ **

Toni chuckled. “Relax, baby. I’ll have you in my ear the whole time.”

**_“Indeed, Miss.”_ **

There was a lull in the conversation. Then, Toni asked slowly, “JARVIS, if Loki’s had Clint all this time, then he’s had access to every piece of information in Clint’s head, right?”

**_“It would seem so.”_ **

“Then he knows that he should have found a way to capture me if he really wanted to take down SHIELD, right?”

For a log moment, JARVIS did not answer. When he did, it was with a note of warning.  **_“I would advise you, Miss, not to take this fact into account for as long as you are in battle.”_ **

Toni nodded in agreement. If she tried to think about why Loki hadn’t come after her personally, it would distract her from the actual fight.

She switched on the comms to the quinjet. “Fellas, I’m approaching the Tower. I’ll stall Loki as long as I can, but how far out are you guys?”

_ “Fifteen minutes,” _ Clint’s voice crackled through.

Toni made a face. “Hurry up.” With that, she circled the top of the Stark Tower, taking a second to survey the large contraption on her rooftop. “Shut it down, Professor!” She called out to Dr Selvig, knowing it was in vain.

Her old teacher shook his head distractedly. “It’s too late,” he said, voice drenched in ecstasy as his eyes glowed blue. “She can’t be stopped now.”

Toni thought about blasting a repulsor at it. But JARVIS was quick to inform that the barrier around it was pure energy; it couldn’t be penetrated by anything less than a nuclear strike. She settled for knocking Selvig out. Hopefully, when he woke up, he’d be free of the mind control, same as Clint.

“Okay, then,” Toni sighed. “Spinning rims, JARVIS.”

As she alighted on the landing pad, she watched the tall figure prowling along the terrace. Loki was watching her back, a smug little smile on his face like he’d known she would show up.

With the armour off and Loki’s sharp gaze fixed unwaveringly on her, Toni was surprised she didn't feel any fear. She made sure to project the same, sauntering over to the bar, but keeping Loki in her sights.

“Please, tell me you’re not here to try  _ seducing _ me,” Loki purred. “I thought we’d already ruled that out as a feasible option.”

“Actually,” Toni countered in a pleasant voice. “I was hoping to appeal to your sense of humanity.”

“You’ll find I don’t have one.”

She shrugged. “Well, then we can fall back on good old-fashioned threatening.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you should have left your armour on for that.” He sounded almost teasing and it sent a stab of nostalgia through her.

She pushed it aside. “Yeah,” she hummed, drawing it out. “It’s seen a bit of mile-age, anyway, and you’ve got the glowstick of destiny.” She watched him glance down at his sceptre with a smirk. She turned to the shelves of bottles of expensive alcohol. “You want a drink?”

Loki gave a small laugh of incredulity. “Stalling me won’t change anything.”

Toni had a moment of mild panic, then internally rolled her eyes. Well, of course, he’d figured out that she was stalling him- it was obvious. “Threatening,” she corrected anyway. “No drink? Sure? I’m having one.”

She poured out some scotch, while Loki finally allowed frustration to show, like he couldn’t understand why she was still here talking to him. “My army is coming,” he hissed. “What have I to fear?”

“The Avengers,” she answered promptly. “That’s what we call ourselves, by the way. Earth’s mightiest heroes- that sorta thing.”

This time, Loki’s chuckle was pure condescension. “Yes. I’ve met them.”

Toni laughed too. “Yeah, takes a while for us to get any traction, true, but- let’s do a headcount here. Your brother; the demigod.”

Finally, Loki’s mask cracked; bitterness flashing across.

“A super-soldier,” she continued as he turned away from her. “A living legend, who kinda lives up to the legend.” She found the metal bracelet hidden away and snapped it on quickly. “A man with breathtaking anger management issues.”

He looked back at her, smile back in place.

“A couple of master assassins, and you-” she pointed to him with a wagging finger. “-big fella, have managed to piss off every single one of them.”

“That was the plan,” Loki reminded.

“Not a great plan.” Toni felt her own smile fade. “You can’t possibly be stupid enough to think that, even with an army, you’ll somehow be able to take over this planet.” She shook her head, leaving the relative safety of the bar to stand in front of him. “We have a god. We have a Hulk. Either one of them could take you down and then what happens? Even if your army is too much for us- you’re not going to come out on top here.”

Loki suddenly stalked towards her. “And you?” He asked in a whisper, almost sweetly. “I noticed you didn’t include yourself in that fancy line-up. Where do you come in?”

Toni tilted her chin up defiantly, meeting his stare. “You broke my heart, Lokes,” she told him in a hot whisper. “I may be over it, but... Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

Something flickered in Loki’s eyes as they bored into her. She could almost see him making split-second changes to his plans. “Yes,” he murmured. “You would be far more entertaining if you were by my side.”

For a second Toni froze. Fuck, she hadn’t seen this coming, why hadn't she thought of this, what the fuck was she going to-

The sceptre tapped against her chest- against the arc reactor- and she flinched.

Nothing happened.

Loki blinked, repeating the gesture. “This usually works,” he said, visibly confused.

Toni made a sympathetic face. “Well, performance issues, it’s not uncommon, especially for guys above the age of-”

His hand wrapped around her throat, a snarl of fury escaping him. Toni gasped for breath, scrabbling at his arm, vision going blurry except for the electric blue of his eyes widened in anger and…

_ Why are his eyes blue?  _ Toni thought dimly. Then he threw her across the floor.


	6. The Safest Hands

The nuke met its target. The ship exploded. The stars were beautiful.

Toni imagined she could feel the last of her oxygen go. Her eyes slipped close with Pepper’s smiling photo superimposed over the endless abyss.

_She woke on sand. The sky above was a perfect black, uninterrupted by stars. Toni felt weightless, energised, as she sat up. Curling her fingers into the ground, she stared at the river rushing by her. It was black too. But as she peered into the waters, she could see little pinpricks of light, almost like reflection of the stars. But there were no stars…_

_Where the hell was she?_

_“Do not get too used to it,” a voice spoke up._

_Toni whirled around. There was a woman standing a few steps behind her. She was beautiful, in that ethereal way that Loki and Thor and Frigga were. Tall, with a face that could have been carved from marble for how pale it was. Her eyes were so dark that the black seemed almost liquid against the white of the sclera, irises indistinguishable from pupils even when she came closer._

_“Don’t get used to what?” Toni asked cautiously._

_She chuckled. “To my realm, of course.” She gestured vaguely and Toni spotted the silhouette of a castle in the distance behind her._

_“Your realm?”_

_The woman sighed. She looked sad. “You should not be here,” she murmured. “But, alas, the Mad Titan had grown impatient, had wanted to try. At least…”She looked up at the sky. “At least, he will now be deterred enough to wait another few years before trying again.”_

_Toni’s mind felt fuzzy, heavy. The woman’s words weren’t making sense. “I don’t understand,” she said._

_“It’s not time to. Yet.” The woman reached out. “But it is time for you to go back. And once again, I must say, I hope I do not see you any time soon.”_

_“Lady, what-” Toni shook her head. “Who the fuck are you?”_

_The woman laughed a little. “You won’t remember any of this either way,” she said. Her fingertip landed on Toni’s forehead. “But I am Lady Death.”_

Steve Rogers’ baby blues peered down at her as she gasped, tasting sweet, sweet oxygen.

“What happened?” She asked, breathing hard. “Please tell me nobody kissed me.”

* * *

The beat down from the Hulk had left him sore and exhausted. But as Loki lay on the dented floor, he felt light, like a huge weight had been lifted, a weight he hadn't been fully aware of.

Relief and joy flooded him- his mind was free. His will was only his own. Thanos was no longer in control. 

The sound of the agent who'd tricked him in the cage- Natalia Romanova- reached him from the terrace of the tower. 

"I can close the portal," she was saying. 

Loki almost laughed. All his careful planning and mental gymnastics around Thanos' control had paid off- the Avengers, as they called themselves, had prevented the war, had saved the planet. 

But a minute passed and the portal still hadn't shut down. He struggled to lift his head, wondering what the hold up was.

He could just make out Romanova, looking up at the sky, sceptre in her hand, poised to stab it into Selvig’s device. He followed her gaze to the sky, up the energy trail of the Tesseract that led to the portal and-

His heart stopped, keen eyes catching on the unmistakable figure flying up towards the doorway to the Void. 

“Antonia,” he whispered, voice thick and choked up with the blood in his mouth, just as she disappeared.

A beat passed. Then another. And another. Loki tried to sit up, tried to gain some semblance of balance. But his body felt like a puppet with cut strings and though every inch of his being wanted to get to Toni somehow, his mind felt fuzzy, the world a blur.

Then he caught sight of the Iron Queen’s armour again, falling this time. _Fly_ , he thought desperately. _Fly, you foolish mortal, I can’t help you right now_. Figured he would be useless to save her after promising that he would always come to her aid. But then, that had been almost five Midgardian years ago.

The green beast caught her, its roar sounding almost comforting. Loki felt himself relax. He lost consciousness.

* * *

When he woke up again, automatically dragging his body to a slightly raised position even before he opened his eyes, the pain was less. But his seidr, at least, was functioning a bit better.

Sensing scrutiny, he turned slightly. He couldn’t say he was surprised to find an arrow aimed directly at his face, wielded by Barton. The Avengers fanned out behind him, unmasked and faces cold.

Well, not Thor’s. Thor was looking at him with sadness, not anger. Loki refused to acknowledge the pang of guilt at that. He remembered what he’d said to him just a few days ago. And while the words may have been fed to him by Thanos, the anger and pain had been Loki’s. He hadn’t been completely under the control of the Mad Titan, after all. Otherwise, the Avengers would never have won.

He averted his gaze, found Toni instead. She was glaring down at him too, but there was something curious about it too, something like doubt.

“If it’s all the same to you,” he said softly, trying to inject a note of humor. “I’ll have that drink now.”

Toni’s lips twitched, not quite a smile, but close enough. She turned away. “Alright, we can pose up a storm later,” she said loudly. “Thor, the helicarrier is destroyed. Do you have any ideas on containing him?”

Thor nodded slowly. He brought out an all too familiar metallic contraption. Gingerly, he knelt in front of Loki, reaching for his hands, clapping the heavy manacles on his wrists. As the metal magically tightened, he procured a muzzle as well.

Loki snarled, instinctual rage taking over everything else. “Really?” He demanded. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Barton flinch a little, though his aim remained steady. “It’s not enough to defeat me, you must also humiliate me?”

“Your powers of persuasion are famous, brother,” Thor murmured. “Please. Do not make this more difficult than it has to be.”

Loki had no choice but to fume silently, as the gag locked into place over his mouth and chin. Toni didn’t flinch, but he could see the way she looked away for a moment.

As he was hauled to his feet, the elevator doors opened and a team of black-clad walked in. Toni narrowed her eyes at them instantly. She began to walk towards them, but Romanova caught her elbow.

“Take a breather,” the redhead advised. “You were just dead for about three minutes. I’ll handle them.”

It took Toni a second to relax a bit. “Thanks, Red.” She looked around the team. “Seriously, did someone kiss me back to life?”

It was the Captain who answered in a deadpan tone, “The Hulk.”

For a long second, Toni stared up at the man, disbelieving. Then there was a whoop of laughter that made Loki’s heart constrict a little. The Captain smiled too, bashfully glancing down at the floor.

“Well, I guess you do have a sense of humor, Cap,” Toni teased.

The Captain stepped closer to her. “Listen, Dr Stark.” He shook his head. “I read the file SHIELD gave me. I judged you on the basis of what I read in it.” He gave her a pained smile. “Guess I forgot that files don’t really make the person. So, I’m sorry. For everything I said.”

Toni nodded slowly. “I’m sorry too. Look, I…” She sighed. “I basically grew up being compared to you by my dad. I thought I was over it, but I guess childhood resentment doesn’t just disappear like that. Besides, the sceptre was messing with you… With all of us.”

Loki couldn’t stop the way his head snapped towards her. There was a lie in her words, obvious to him even if no one else could see it. Toni didn’t notice his reaction, but Thor frowned slightly. Loki forced himself to relax.

Rogers nodded at Toni, sticking his hand out. “Truce?”

“Definitely.” She shook his hand, offering him a smile. “We make a good team, Rogers.”

“Dr Stark,” a new voice called out. Loki watched a short blond man appear, dressed sharply, meeting Toni in the middle. “What exactly is happening here?”

“Uh, well, we’re planning on lunch,” Toni told him shortly. “It’s shawarma, I’ve heard it’s great. I’d invite you, but-” she smiled sweetly. “-political agendas tend to get in the way of team-building.”

The man looked around. “We need to bring Loki in-”

“No.” Thor stood taller, going to stand at Toni’s side. “Loki will answer for his grievances against you, but he will do so on Asgard.”

“Listen, I don’t care-”

“Pierce!” Toni interrupted. “You don’t really wanna argue with a god.” It was not a question.

Pierce seethed. “Fine. But the Tesseract-”

“Belongs on Asgard as well,” Thor cut in smoothly.

Loki almost felt proud.

“Then the sceptre stays with us,” Pierce negotiated.

Thor scowled. “What use have you-?”

“It’s a fair deal,” Pierce pointed out. “We’ve had years to study the Cube. Now you’re taking it and the war criminal. It’s only fair we get to keep the object used to condition the minds of so many people, to study it.”

Loki felt a seed of alarm in his chest grow. That sceptre was… It was too dangerous. Once again, he fixed his eyes on Toni, this time in trepidation. Look at me, he thought desperately. Look at me, please!

But it was futile, of course.

Toni placed a hand on Thor’s arm. “It’s a fair deal,” she agreed soothingly. “But I want first crack at it.”

Pierce raised an eyebrow.

“You made the mistake of not calling me in on the Tesseract project,” she reminded him. “Look where that got us. If I’d been involved, we might have been able to avoid all this.”

Pierce nodded stiffly. “Fair enough, Dr Stark. But first thing tomorrow morning, I’ll be sending a team to collect that sceptre.”

“Of course.”

As Pierce walked away, Toni turned to Thor with a curious expression. Still holding on to him arm, she asked, “Fucking hell, Stormboy, did you get bigger since the last time I saw you?” Her small fingers curled around his bicep, squeezing experimentally. " _How_ did you get bigger?"

Loki closed his eyes, momentarily thankful that the gag muffled any sounds of distress that may have escaped him. When he looked again, Thor was smiling down at her, smaller than usual but still cheerful and childlike. Toni laughed, leaning up on her tiptoes to poke at his forehead. 

“I have got to introduce you to Pepper,” she was saying. “She’s my girlfriend. You guys are gonna love her.” Suddenly, her eyes went wide. “Holy- Pep! I gotta call her!” She practically dashed away.

The Captain shook his head. “She’s a handful.”

The Hulk growled.

Barton scoffed. “Whatever, Cap. You like her, you can admit it.”

Rogers blushed a little.

Thor appeared next to Loki again. “Come,” he said quietly. “Lady Stark’s butler has offered to guide me to your…”

The word cell hung in the silence.

Thor sighed and tugged him along, not rough, but not gentle either. Loki was too tired to struggle.

* * *

Toni should have been ready for the way Pepper launched herself at her, not so much kissing her as pressing their mouths together and breathing her in. 

Miraculously, Toni felt the last of the tension leave her. Bruce and the Hulk were doing fine, the planet was saved, Loki was captured. So she relaxed, melting into Pepper's arms in the middle of the wrecked lobby. 

She should have also been ready for the way Pepper suddenly broke the kiss and shoved her hard. 

"Ow," she couldn't stop herself from hissing. 

Instantly, Pepper was holding her again. "Sorry," she said, voice shaky, anger and relief flashing through her eyes. "I just… You…" Her chin was trembling, makeup smeared around her eyes, making them seem bluer. "I watched you fall. And then- I saw your missed call. And I…" She sniffled, trying to wrest back control. 

Toni felt her chest warm. She leaned up a bit, nudging Pepper's nose with her own. "I'm sorry I scared you," she said. "But I'm okay now. I promise."

Pepper nodded, quick jerky movements that belied her lingering fear. "I checked up at Metro General. Pretty much every single doctor and nurse have their hands full. There's a good chance Stephen didn't see your little stunt."

Toni exhaled heavily at that. "Thank god. He's going gray early anyway, I don't need to add to it."

"He'll find out sooner or later." Pepper glanced up at the ceiling. "Is he there? Loki?"

Toni hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah, he's… In chains. I told Thor to take him to the spare bedroom. It's not furnished yet, so there's nothing he can use in any way." She shook her head. "Something isn't adding up, Pep," she spoke in a lower voice.

"Tell me about it later," Pepper suggested as she took her phone out. "JARVIS said you guys are planning lunch? I'll get you guys a place. All of you take a break, I'll keep an eye on things here."

"Really?" Toni smiled. "You're the light of my life, Miss Potts."

Pepper rolled her eyes, but kissed her again, brief this time. "Go have lunch, Dr Stark."

As Toni walked away, the uneasiness didn't leave her thoughts. Natasha said she'd been dead for three minutes. How had she revived herself? Loki's eyes had definitely changed colour. And back on the helicarrier- why hadn't the sceptre messed with her too?

_**"Miss, I must inform you,"**_ JARVIS spoke up in her ear. _**"That when you lied to Captain Rogers about the sceptre affecting you, Loki's attention was riveted on you instantly."**_

Toni frowned. "Son of a bitch could probably tell I was lying."

* * *

Shawarma, as Antonia called it, was not something Thor had tasted during his last stay on Midgard. Still, it was a commendable flavour.

Somehow, though, he couldn’t bring himself to quite enjoy it. The afternoon was spent with visits and calls from various dignitaries who dealt mainly with Toni and Romanoff. He considered helping, but diplomacy had never been his strong suit. So he assisted Barton and the Captain in cleaning up the wreckage as best as they could. The Hulk had changed back to Banner who, despite visible exhaustion, had taken off to a nearby healing center, saying something about helping a man by the name of 'Strange'. 

In the middle of it all, Toni's lover, Lady Pepper, ruled the chaos with a firm hand. 

But amongst it all, Thor could sense the secretive glances Toni sent his way, as clear a signal as any that she had something of great importance to say to him. 

But it wasn't until the sun had set that they found a chance to converse. 

"Something is seriously wrong," she said without preamble. 

Thor nodded grimly. "I agree. Loki has always been a strategist. His plans rarely fail, though the Warriors Three and Lady Sif- myself as well, I'm ashamed to admit- often prefer brute strength over the delicacy of espionage."

"So you agree that we shouldn't have won this easily?" Toni questioned, gazing out at the orange-red sun. 

Thor inclined his head. "I'm not certain our team mates would refer to it as ' _easy_ ', Lady Antonia."

She shot him a look of annoyance, but didn't say anything- he knew she wasn't fond of the formal title and he was trying to remember it, truly. He just slipped up sometimes. 

"It still wasn't as hard as it should have been," Toni corrected herself. "We've had lots of people injured. But do you know how many casualties?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Three." She gave an incredulous huff of laughter. "Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for that number, and I wish we could have saved those three, but… Six people versus an entire army, the most powerful mage in the universe, and more than a dozen humans who had all sorts of inside knowledge? The numbers aren't adding up and you know it!"

Thor had been nodding along. "What do you suppose?"

This time, Toni hesitated. "Loki's eyes are green, right?" She sounded unsure. 

But her words slammed into Thor's mind like a mace and something that had bothered him since the fight finally clicked. "His eyes were blue when we fought!" He gasped. 

Toni looked grim. "What if there's someone else behind all this? What if there was someone controlling Loki?"

Thor took a deep breath. "Unless we can prove it… The All-Father will have no choice but to punish him."

"What if we get Loki to confess?" Toni tried. "Along with what we've seen, shouldn't that be enough?"

Thor chuckled. "Loki might value freedom over pride, but he might make an exception this time. His anger and grief- it might be enough to stay his tongue, even at the cost of exoneration."

They stood in silence for some time, as the sun finally disappeared. 

Toni sighed. "Maybe I can try talking to him," she murmured. "He… He might open up to me more than he would to you." She offered him a small, apologetic smile. 

Thor pursed his lips, but nodded. "I wish it weren't true, but it is. And you can’t let him know that I condoned it.”

She bit her lip. “That’s gonna be tricky. He can sense lies.”

“I know.”

She cleared her throat, squaring her shoulders. "Tonight then," she decided. "After everyone else is asleep."

* * *

Mind and body still exhausted beyond anything he’d ever known before, Loki drifted to and fro wakefulness and unconsciousness. He knew he needed to be alert, stay sharp. But for most of the day, he couldn’t do more than open his eyes every now and then to blink blearily at his unfamiliar surroundings for a few minutes, then drift off again.

When he finally regained all his senses, the one window in the room offered a view of the night sky. He tried to shift his weight a little- chains rattled. He was on a bed. His hands were pulled up, the cuffs magically attached to the headboard, and the manacles around his ankles to the foot of the bed. The gag was still in place.

He tilted his head back, trying to relieve the ache in his neck muscles from bending forward for too long.

The sound of the door opening made him straighten. When it was Toni who walked in, he had to fight not to relax. He kept up a glare, but his chest ached at the sight of her.

Toni hid her wariness, but he could see through it as easily as any spoken lie. She was carrying a glass.

“The rest of the team don’t know I’m here,” she spoke softly. “They wouldn’t have agreed.”

He couldn’t answer, so he just rolled his eyes to communicate how little he thought of her teammates.

She seemed to understand, because she looked down to the floor to hide her smirk. Gingerly, she came closer. Placing the tray on the bedside table, she sat next to him. She seemed relaxed, confident. But her legs stayed on the floor, ready to bolt, even though her torso was turned towards her.

“I’m going to take off the gag,” she said. “Don’t bite me. And don’t try to piss me off without reason.”

Despite her words, Loki somehow wasn’t ready for her hand to lift towards his face. The muzzle unlocked with a click. Just a little dumbfounded, he didn’t notice her reach for him again. This time, when she touched his skin, he flinched, anticipating pain…

And then abruptly leaned into the coolness of her fingertips as she trailed them across his jaw. It was gentle, soothing- he’d forgotten what that felt like. And her touch was familiar too, with the callouses from her work and the chill of latent seidr.

Her thumb pressed into a bruise on his chin. Loki shivered and opened his eyes. He hadn’t even been aware of closing them.

Toni didn’t hold his gaze, removing her hand instead. “Here,” she said softly, picking up the glass of water. “You need to drink. Otherwise, you’ll still feel weak tomorrow morning.”

“You’re not even going to trust me to drink water by myself?” Loki’s voice was a rasp, but he raised an eyebrow at her. “Is it your objective to demean me?”

“I don’t believe in taking away basic privileges,” she answered evenly. “And I’m hoping that the Loki I used to know isn’t completely gone.” She mimicked his cocked brow. “You can tell if I’m lying. So, am I?”

He clenched his jaw, then loosened it when dull pain bloomed. Reluctantly, he nodded a little and accepted the water as she brought the glass to his lips. It tasted just a little bitter.

“I’d have gotten you something to eat too,” she said. “But it was hard enough to just sneak up here without anyone noticing.”

“And I’m sure Thor hasn’t told you that nourishment helps to strengthen my seidr?” Loki questioned evenly.

She actually grinned and it was sharp enough to cut. “Don’t worry about feeling too weak. The water’s mixed with some basic vitamins.”

“How kind,” he deadpanned.

For a long moment, they held each other’s gaze, neither backing down. But as Loki stared, her dark eyes caught the filtered light of the moon, the brown-gold taking on a hint of silver. And there was no longer any anger or slyness, but what might actually be called concern.

“The sceptre you used to control people,” she began. “It had a hold on you too, didn’t it?”

Whatever Loki had been expecting, it wasn’t that. He reacted visibly, jerking away from her as much the restraints allowed, her words bringing up too-recent memories of the Titan.

“How?” He snarled in a low voice.

“Hey, hey, easy, calm down, buddy,” she soothed firmly, hands pressing into his tense shoulders. “It was obvious if we’d just taken the time to think about it.” She paused for a second, waiting for him to answer. 

“My eyes,” Loki whispered. “You saw… You saw my eyes.”

She nodded. “Not like I could forget that gorgeous green,” she said. And it would have sounded like flirting to anyone else, but Loki could hear nothing but a thin veneer of so many other emotions.

“Has Thor reached the same conclusion?” He asked.

She hesitated briefly. “Yes. But Loki, you…” She shifted her weight, getting more comfortable. “You’re going to be punished in Asgard,” she told him, though she must know that he was already aware. “Unless you confess the truth. Tell them what happened to you, tell them about being controlled. Thor and I will back you up, even if the rest of the team doesn’t.”

It should have been an obvious choice. An eternity in prison versus swallowing his pride and asking for the All-Father’s trust, protection and forgiveness? No matter how Loki would phrase it, that’s what his confession would be.

And yet, Loki had spent so long being wise, trying to be clever, trying to think his way out. He was tired of that. So tired. For once, he was going to be petty. Imprisonment on Asgard was protection enough. Let Thor stew in his guilt. And Toni… She shouldn’t care.

He was right. It _was_ an obvious choice.

“I’d rather see myself locked up like a monster,” he answered coldly. “Than kneel at the throne like a beggar.”

Toni’s face dropped, some sort of mask fading away, leaving nothing but sadness in its wake. “I was afraid you’d say that,” she said tightly. 

“Then you wasted your time,” he scoffed. But his bravado dropped away too, when she leaned closer to him all of a sudden, cupping his jaw again, the pad of her thumb traced the shape of his mouth.

He wanted to turn his face into her hand, press a kiss to her forge-roughened palm. He wanted to teasingly nip at her fingers, then close the distance between them. He wanted to see if she still had the same sweet-cold taste.

He almost did it, or maybe he would have caught himself in time-

Either way, Toni pulled back, brow furrowed unhappily. “Thor will take you back tomorrow,” she said. “He’s taking the Tesseract. The sceptre stays on Earth. WHoever was controlling you, I doubt they’ll be happy with this outcome, so I hope you change your mind before your hearing. In the meantime…” She picked up the muzzle.

But Loki had something else to say. "Antonia, be careful with that sceptre!" He hissed. 

She stilled, eyes turning sharp.

"You can't let it fall into the wrong hands," he said, urgent. "Only the ones you trust, Toni! It's too dangerous." He bit the inside of his cheek, fighting his pride. "Please. It's all I'd ask."

Toni took a deep breath. "Okay," she said softly. "Okay, Lokes."

The nickname made his eyes widen and her response was just a bitter smile. Then the muzzle locked into place and she left without a second glance. 

Loki tilted his head. If he was going to see Odin tomorrow, he needed to be well-rested.

* * *

Thor regarded her with somber eyes. "You still miss him."

Toni didn't look at him, staring at the recording of her and Loki's conversation. "You were right about him."

"I am certain he still has affection for you."

She swallowed visibly. "I'm going to hide the sceptre somewhere. For the sake of safety, I'm not going to tell you where."

Thor sighed loudly. "That seems wise."

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are moderated to avoid flames.
> 
> My Tumblr: kassyscarlett


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